1 . If your interviewer asks about an “unpopular stand” that you took, you need to describe an action that was unpopular with at least one person.
2. Do try to contain your examples to times when you only ruffled one or two people’s feathers.
You don’t want to come off as a rabble-rouser. Avoid stories about how you “joined the Women’s Group” at your firm to gripe about “how they never promote women from within,” or railroaded some objectors on staff into giving money to the United Way (or another corporate
“cause”).
98.
Under what circumstances have you found it acceptable to break a confidence?A.
When the person doing the confiding has shared the fact that she was doing something unethical—and if I felt that I might be able to stop her behavior by telling someone else about it. I used to work at a company that wasn’t doing all that well. A “rainmaker” was brought in to solve the problem. She would get the company involved in new business pitches that would take months, often relying on one particular outsider as a paid “new business consultant.”
After a couple of months, this woman and her new business consultant would call large internal staff meetings to tell everyone what our “next steps” were. One day, I bumped into the CFO of the company and asked him whether we were being paid for any of these new business pitches. Sadly, he just shook his head and said no.
I finally approached the “rainmaker” after hours, and asked her point-blank about our prospects.
“You have to keep the illusion of having a lot of balls in the air,” she told me, “even if none of them ever turn into real business. This keeps people employed.” I mulled over what she had confided, decided it was a recipe for disaster, and contacted the chairman of the company to discuss it. He fired the “rainmaker” and her new business consultant that afternoon. Naturally, I also worried about my own job. But I was spared.
99.
What mistakes did you make during your last job? And what would you have done differently, if you could do it over?A.
My last job was at a very small company where people wore a lot of “hats.” Everyone needed to do three jobs competently. When I first arrived, I was told to hire two specialists from big firms immediately— which I did. The problem was, that in both cases, these specialists did one thing superbly, and they weren’t able to branch out and tackle some of the other assignments, because in their old firms, these tasks hadn’t been part of their job descriptions. After a couple of weeks, I recognized my error, and had to fire both people—replacing them with two people from smaller companies. They both worked out very well.As they say, “hindsight is 20/20.” Had I been blessed with perfect foresight, I would not have bowed to the excruciating pressure to hire two people so quickly. I would have tested them out on a freelance basis for a couple of weeks, recognized that they couldn’t perform all of the required tasks, and then ultimately hired the two people from smaller firms who were appropriate for this company.
Inside Information
If you made a mistake in your last job and are asked about it, own up to it. But strive to show: 1) how you corrected the problem, and 2) what you learned from the experience.
100.
Do you know who painted this work of art? It’s an original Jasper Johns. I can see by your blank stare that you have no idea who that is. So tell me, why should I put you in my Private Client Services Group, where you would be servicing high-net-worth individuals?A.
I’m sorry, David, if I appeared for a moment there to stop and stare at that gorgeous Jasper Johns. I confess that I was simply marveling at its beauty, texture, and form. The last time I saw one was at a traveling Jasper Johns exhibit two years ago. I vowed then and there that I would commit myself to servicing high-net-worth individuals, so that one day, hopefully in this lifetime, I would be able to afford a small Jasper Johns painting of my very own. Yes, I know that sounds ambitious, especially given what his paintings fetch at auction houses. But I figure that you’re no stranger to ambition. You need people in this company who have big dreams and visions. I intend to be the most productive person in your entire department. Please tell me more about some of the investments that you’ve recommended to your high-net-worth clients.Alt. A. You’re absolutely right. I confess that I know absolutely nothing about Jasper Johns! I never took an art history class when I was at Harvard, and once I got to Columbia Business School, I was so wrapped up in my corporate finance major that I never made it to a museum. But you should feel confident that I will pick up the knowledge that I need to service your high-net-worth clients. I’m a quick study, and I recognize that being able to talk to clients about their interests is critical.
101.
Have you ever lost your cool? Please describe.A.
I once helped a woman get a job at my company. I didn’t really know her all that well. She and I had worked together for a nanosecond at a previous company many years before, but on separate teams and for separate bosses. I figured that since the previous company was a blue-chip organization, this woman was probably talented and extremely competent.The moment that she arrived at my new company, however, she tried to sabotage my efforts. She reported to me, so her actions were potentially quite destructive. Every time that I would bring a new deal to the table, she would go on and on about why it was “a terrible idea” to pursue. Eventually, I called her into my office, closed the door, and said: “I am supposed to be your leader, and by flouting my authority publicly, you are hurting both of our chances for survival at this company. I feel like I got you this job, and the way you have chosen to repay me proves that I made a serious error in judgment.
If you don’t stop sabotaging me in meetings, I will be forced to fire you. So if you have a problem with my deals, I strongly suggest that you come talk to me first. You have two weeks to turn the situation around.”
Even though I was quite angry with her, I delivered this “bitter pill” calmly. She took my threat seriously, and, fortunately, I never had to follow through on it. She was eventually transferred to a different department, though, because others on my team didn’t like her attitude either. But we have long since patched up the “bad blood” between us. And we’re both still working at the company.
Why This Technique Works
1. You admitted that you were angered by someone’s behavior, but in fact you didn’t lose your temper. You showed steely resolve under pressure, and you were not afraid to solve the problem, permanently, if necessary.
2. You repaired the “broken fence” with her, even though others in your department didn’t like being around her either.
102.
What have been the most difficult criticisms you have ever faced?A.
I think that the most difficult criticism is something that you can’t do anything about. For example, if someone told me that I was “too hard on my people,” I would loosen up. If I ever heard that I was bad at delegating, I would take a class in management and delegate more. But I was once told that I was “too passionate,” but not to change it, because my passion evidently helped me get my work done. I thought about the comment a lot, and decided that my supervisor was probably right. I’m still just as passionate, but I’ve learned how to rein it in over the years, simply by expressing it less.Why This Technique Works
1. Asked about a criticism that you received, you cited your “passion,” which most people would consider a positive trait.
2. The fact that you learned how to moderate the way that you express your zeal shows a maturity and self-knowledge interviewers can’t help but admire.
103.
Let’s discuss a time when you missed a significant deadline.A.
I would absolutely love to, but honestly, it’s never happened. Sometimes, for whatever reason, clients have imposed an absolutely brutal deadline to show them the first round of work. And I have always respected their wishes. “Give me the freedom of a tight deadline,” as one of my former bosses used to say.That’s a Wrap
1 . Pop essay questions don’t have a “right” answer versus a “wrong” one, but being thorough adds major points to your interview score (while being superficial subtracts them).
2 . Logic questions become easier to tackle once you break them down into smaller subsets of problems requiring simple math skills. Just don’t forget to let your interviewer in on the assumptions that you are using to solve the problem.
3. Ethical questions are more common now than ever, due to the discovery of unethical practices at many blue-chip firms. Your interviewer is trying to figure out if you have integrity. Prove that you do, even if everyone that you ever worked with seems to have forgotten the meaning of the word.
4. If an interviewer asks whether you are more X or Y, and both seem like valuable corporate assets, pick one, but demonstrate that you also possess the other quality in spades.
5 . “Confess” to certain errors that you made if you have to, but never admit to technical incompetence. You meet deadlines, you’re super-organized, you have interpersonal “people skills” galore. Any problems that you encountered on the job were a result of confusing or unethical management practices that existed before you joined the company and were beyond your control.
CHAPTER 5 How to Ace the Personality Test
R
eferences, once the bastion of the interviewing process, are nearing extinction as million-dollar lawsuits filed by employees given bad marks from their former employers are becoming more commonplace. Companies are counseled by their in-house lawyers to simply confirm or deny that a particular person was employed for a certain period of time without going into the details. As a result, personality testing is being adopted by more and more companies to help them get to know the people under consideration a little better.In theory, a personality test simply measures someone’s strengths. Are you a leader or a manager?
Are you a type A personality or a type B?
The problem is: at companies that use personality testing, records are kept of which types of employees tend to succeed or fail. So in the hiring process, executives are looking to fill slots with only one “type” of employee —the type who succeeds.